Pope Francis' Twitter reaches 40 million followers

The pontiff tweets in nine languages and also has an Instagram account. (Source: CNN)

(RNN) – The Pope’s Twitter account reached 40 million followers this week after five years on Twitter.

The Pontiff's handle is @pontifex, and his tweets can be accessed in nine languages; Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Latin.

According to a news release from the Vatican, Pope Francis uses his daily tweets to offer spiritual thoughts throughout the globe.

Monsignor Dario Edoardo Vigano, communication secretary for the Vatican, said that Pope Francis closely checks all the tweets before they are published. The pope is attentive because the social media world “is made of people.”

The search for peace is an open-ended task, a responsibility that never ends and that demands the commitment of everyone.